katana6783 comments

limboinjapan, I really feel for you in your current situation. I now find myself in a similar predicament. I am 26, so I guess youth is on my side, but sadly I have become a victim of Japanese office politics and ignorance. I work as a direct hire ALT for a city board of education. The job was difficult from the start, mostly due to the inflexibility and lack of support from city hall, and also the total lack of student discipline in the schools, nothing new there, I know these things are the norm in most areas of Japan. Although the contract stipulated 20 lessons per week, we frequently go over this as the BOE have cut back the number of teachers to the point where everyone can find themselves working at 3,4 or sometimes evn 5 different schools in a single week. Of course, naturally, this led to a great deal of stress amongst the group. My contract stipulated that we were allowed 5 sick days, and an additonal 20 days of "special sick leave" Sadly, last summer I was diagnosed with depression. The doctor ordered me to take at least a month off to recover. He later extended this by another month when I showed no initial improvement. I evetually returned to work at the end of October, after an absence of some 6 weeks. I had been recieving almost daily phonecalls from city hall harassing me and demanding to know when or if I was coming back. The atmosphere at my schools was extremely harsh from the outset. The BOE had done nothing to cover my classes while I was on leave, and as such, even now, I am still teaching 5-6 classes most days. I often had to put up with snide comments from co-workers (both foreign and Japanese) asking how much I enjoyed my "holiday". There was also the usual gossiping about my mental state and my fitness to be teaching children. My co-workers dont realise just how much Japanese I can understand. Things came to a head a few weeks ago when I was told my contract would not be renewed. The BOE's evaluation system is nothing short of baffling. Basically we are given assorted comments, supposedly written by our co-workers, and then an arbitrary grade of A-E is awarded. The comments given to me were a combination of exaggeration, fabrication and downright lies. I was not given any opportunity to defend myself, nor will the BOE provide any written evidence of these accusations. So, I will unemployed as of the end of next month. Anybody got any ideas what I should do? Ive been told that I would have a case for wrongful dismissal, but as a foreigner, I should probably forget any chance of winning if it went to court. The thing is, I really loved my job before I got sick, and now its been taken away through something of which I had little control. Any comments or suggestions are appreciated.

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